Letting the Ripples Flow:
by EeveeGen9988
Summary: [One-Shot] Once something has come to her attention, can Wakana accept this? For [Twelve Shots of Summer: Trinity Limit]


**Letting the Ripples Flow:**

 **I do not own The World Ends With You, Square Enix does!**

 **Written for Twelve Shots of Summer - Week 4…**

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A soft whistle escaped the kettle, alerting Wakana as she was finishing the sakuramochi. Once she had wrapped the last mochi in a sakura leaf, she retrieved her oven mitts before tending to the water. She turned off the heat, watching the steam rising from the kettle as she placed her oven mitts on. She picked up and placed the kettle down gently on a coaster before she inhaled; letting her gaze fall to her pristine teapot she had received as a gift many years ago.

She couldn't imagine a day without a cup of tea… especially when she shared them with Kazumasa. She fondly remembered how reluctant he was when she invited him over for tea when they were younger, seeing that it took him many years until he acquired the taste for it. As well, she couldn't think of a better companion to drink tea with than her best friend. But now... she felt that over the years they became more than that… Wakana smiled at that thought then dismissed it, gathering her concentration as she carefully poured the hot water into her teapot. As she waited for it to cool, she went to search for a packet of green tea and jasmine.

It was strange, how things have changed. It used to be common to prepare your own tea powder, but now the RG citizens had created tea packets... As much as she enjoyed grinding up her own tea, she had to admit to how efficient tea packets were. Less effort… yes. Quality… perhaps below her standards, but she could hardly make a complaint about it. After all, it was hard enough for her to attain tea nowadays... She was grateful that her Reapers were generous enough to fetch some upon her request.

The water was the right temperature soon, so she opened up the packet and let the green tea powder slide in before readying the jasmine. As she stirred the liquid, she checked the time before smiling. **'It's nearly time… he should be here soon…'**

Once she carefully placed everything neatly on a tray, she brought it over to her coffee table, placing it down before setting down each item with care until the arrangement met her standards. With an exhale; she put away the tray before she gently sat down on one of her couches, placing her hands on her lap as she waited.

Within a few minutes, she heard raps on the door, so she got up and walked over to let her Conductor in. His fawn-coloured hair was brushed neatly, his white suit prim, and his grip on his cane steady as ever. Wakana smiled at him, meeting his midnight blue eyes with her lilac.

"I'm glad you could make it, my Conductor," she murmured gently with a smile, watching as he smiled back politely.

"I cannot think of a reason for why I wouldn't be able to heed your summons…" he replied pleasantly. "Making time for you is a pleasure of mine…" He sauntered over to the couch, waiting for her to find a seat before he sat down. As he put his cane down, letting it lean against the couch arm, he nodded as his eyes scanned the coffeetable. "Ah… I see you've been busy…"

"It wasn't much trouble for me, my Conductor." Blinking as she watched the steam whirl from the teapot's spout towards the ceiling, she soon allowed herself to meet his gaze again. "I had plenty of time…"

"Sadly, I have to differ on my part…" mused Kazumasa. "Lately our Reapers have been fooling around with the Noise, you see…"

"In what way?"

"Gambling games, mostly to see which one can defeat the other one…" explained Kazumasa with a shake of his head, closing his eyes briefly as he went on, "Back in our day, I could hardly imagine summoning Noise for our own endeavors… considering how we were in the constant queue of war…"

"But none of that matters now," replied Wakana gently, picking up a yunomi and placing it in front of Kazumasa. "We're past that age…"

"Yes, indeed we are..." He paused when he gave her a meaningful look, earning a nod from her as she leaned over to fill his yunomi before putting the teapot down. He took the small yunomi with his hands, blowing down on it then sipping for a few seconds before he paused. "San-pincha…?"

"I thought it met the occasion…" Wakana smiled when she sensed how Kazumasa's mood, which was slightly agitated at this point, lightened as he relaxed. "I know how it is your favorite…"

"Thank you…" Kazumasa said gently, meeting her eyes as he continued, "I couldn't have asked for anything better, Diana…"

Wakana flinched, noticing how Kazumasa did so as well. Immediately he closed his eyes, shaking his head before he mused sadly, "Beg my pardon, a slip of the tongue you see…"

"Why have you called me by that name?" asked Wakana, slightly wary of its significance to her Conductor.

"Oh, you don't know…" Kazumasa grimaced slightly, setting down his ornamented yunomi before gathering his hands together. "Our Reapers have been referring to you by that name, you see…"

At once Wakana relaxed; relieved it was nothing more than that. She watched as Kazumasa awkwardly reached, hovering his left hand over the sakuramochi before picking one, then drew it back to start nibbling on it.

"Why would they call me by that name, my Conductor?" she asked after a moment, watching as Kazumasa finished his confection before she closed her eyes for a moment. "That is not my name…"

"I know it isn't, Wakana…" replied the fawn haired man, inhaling quietly as she noticed how he sat a bit stiffer than when he initially arrived. "But I have come to find that youth often like to don things called… nicknames… for their peers…"

"Funny, how they chose to give me one…" She narrowed her eyes slightly, leaning over to pour a cup of tea for herself. As she worked she knew Kazumasa was watching her, she sensed quivers of nervousness flickering inside his Soul. When she leaned back, taking her yunomi to her lips, she sipped gingerly before she mused, "I don't understand it…"

"It's a common thing that youth like to join in on… A…" Kazumasa grimaced, letting his fingers grasp his chin. "A…"

"Bandwagon?"

"I was going to say… trend…" Kazumasa mused politely; she felt slight irritation in his tone.

"But all the same, it means the same thing…" she replied simply. "Why not say it as it is…?"

"I rather not call it by that…" Wakana could tell he was trying to shift his diction away from mentioning that term he considered unrefined. That was the thing about Kazumasa, he would rather be well-mannered in a polite tongue than use words that were antagonistic of his diction.

"Hmm… I see…" With that, she drank her tea. After a few seconds she put her yunomi down. "Now, why would they call me by Diana…?"

"Well, it's significant because it is a name of a goddess in some religions…" replied Kazumasa mildly. "Then again, it's one form of the name… But no matter, it's also an English name…"

"I'm aware of that, my Conductor."

"Yes, I'm sure you have been, Wakana…" said Kazumasa pleasantly with a light chuckle as he took time to sip his tea a bit. "But I've heard that some people in Japan like English names, such as that one… And they would use them because they respect that language…" As soon as his eyes met hers again, he added kindly, "I think they're using it because they respect you."

Wakana blinked, not letting herself lose composure as Kazumasa waited for her to respond. She merely inhaled, bringing her cup back up to her lips to sip at her tea again.

"They respect me enough, do they not?" she asked as Kazumasa silently raised the teapot, waiting for her to put her yunomi down before he leaned over the table.

"Without a doubt, they do…" With that, Kazumasa poured her another cup of tea. "Why challenge it when they are in favor of it, Wakana? There's no harm in having a nickname… And if I am to be honest, I think it suits you."

Wakana felt herself blush a bit, unable to find anymore words to say about the subject. She merely drank her tea, trying to distract herself with its sweet taste and the enjoyment of being in Kazumasa's company as they began to discuss the events of the last Reaper's Game.

Despite how she felt about her acquisition of that name, she couldn't help but agree with Kazumasa. If her Reapers were using it, she couldn't control that. Perhaps embracing it was as much as she could do at the moment, nothing more, nothing less. As long as the significance of the name was maintained, Wakana couldn't find a reason to challenge it. After all, she had found that once history has been made, to confront its nature would merely waste the time you had.

To let it flow freely, to watch it run its course, was all that one could do…

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 **\- End -**

 **I hope you enjoyed the story! =3**

 **…**

 **EeveeGen9988: Hey everyone! What? Did you think I'd forget about the Composer and Conductor from TWEWY AFIH? Nope! So here's a one-shot for them! =3**

 **Yeah... I'm not really a tea expert to tell you the truth, heh... *rubs back of neck awkwardly* In fact, I hardly drink tea myself... Occasionally I do, but most times I put in too much water and the taste is too dilute and there was _one_ time where I made the tea too concentrated (which was worse than having dilute tea) which wasn't a pleasant experience for me *shudders from the memory*... Hopefully, I'll be able to make tea for myself correctly one day... As you could tell from when you read the story, I bet you could tell I'm not a tea expect... Plus, I actually was going to write the beginning sequence for how one would make tea not in Japan, but then I realized: "Wait... they're in Japan... Maybe I should write about how they make tea there!"... Yeah... hopefully I got it right... =(**

 **Other than how I fail at making tea... this time I took the prompts [A Rose by Any other Name] and [Making Time]! [Making Time] was a small element on how Kazumasa and Wakana talked about having enough time for their little get together (especially how Kazumasa directly stated [Making Time]) and [A Rose by Any other Name] was Wakana's nickname: Diana… Doesn't that name sound familiar?**

 **Fun fact: Did you know that Kazumasa is left-handed? =D**


End file.
